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Twitter will publicly share identity of political ad buyers

The social media site announced increased transparency for all ads that run on the platform.

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Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey wants increased transparency for all ads that run on the site.

Getty Images

Pressure has been mounting for social media sites like Facebook to reveal information about the people and groups who advertise on such platforms. On Tuesday, Twitter announced a new policy to be more transparent about ads that run on its platform and reveal the identity of who bought them.

In a post on Twitter's website, Bruce Falck, general manager of revenue of product and engineering, shared the new policies which will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Twitter will have a new Transparency Center that will show:

  • all ads currently running on the site including "promoted-only" ads
  • how long ads have been running
  • ads targeted at specific users

The site will also identify all political ads and who bought them with a new label that is clear to its users.

Reaction to Twitter's announcement has been positive with praise coming from Senator Mark Warner. In a tweet, Sen. Warner said that this is a good first step and pleaded for more transparency for online political ads.